MPs want inquiry on GCHQ link to Omagh bombing

A new investigation must be set up to examine whether the state withheld vital intelligence from detectives hunting the Omagh bombers, a parliamentary report said today.

The Northern Ireland affairs committee said too many questions remained unanswered over how much the security services knew about the killers' movements around the time of the dissident republican attack 12 years ago and if police officers were left out of the loop.

Twenty-nine people, including a mother pregnant with twins, were killed when the Real IRA car bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone market town.

No one has been successfully convicted of the murders but last year four men were found liable for the bombing in a civil case taken by the victims' families.

The committee undertook an inquiry into the security services' role following claims in a BBC documentary that GCHQ had monitored suspects' mobile phone calls as they drove to Omagh.